BYU Sets EV Land Speed Record

For the past 10 years, engineering students at Brigham Young University have been bringing their battery powered race car – Electric Blue – to the Bonneville Salt Flats to compete for top speed honors. In all, more than 130 students have been involved in designing and building the car, which competes in the under 500 kilogram (1,100 lbs) category for land speed racing, and the team finally broke the 200 MPH broke during their latest attempt, reports Electric AutoSport.

Three years ago, Electric Blue set a land speed record for its class of 155.8 miles per hour. But this year, after a lot of hard work and modifications, the car smashed that record by more than 50 mph, topping out at 204.9. Kelly Hales, BYU student and team captain says “When we set the record three years ago we felt like we left a lot on the table. On paper we thought we could get 200 mph but we never had the conditions just right—until now.” Other electric cars have set higher speeds at Bonneville, notably Ohio State’s Buckeye Bullet, but those cars compete in classes for heavier vehicles. Electric Blue is half as heavy as the Mazda Miata, which is just about the lightest production car you can buy these days.

BYU students have custom-built the lightweight carbon fiber body of Electric Blue over the past 6 years with assistance from computer programs that model wind tunnels. All that aerodynamic work, coupled with power from lithium-iron phosphate batteries, helped the car reach its record setting speed on the salt flats this year. Team captain Hales says that Electric Blue can now retire with a record that should stand for awhile.

Source:  Gas 2.

The 1,300 Miles Per Gallon Car

Brigham Young University (BYU) is known for a number of things– and one of them is unconventional vehicles. The engineering wing of BYU has added to its fleet a new vehicle that gets 1,300 miles per gallon.

The BYU 1,300 miles per gallon vehicle premiered at the annual SAE Supermileage Competition in Michigan. The 2013 SAE Supermileage Competition in Michigan involved twenty five teams from across the country, 19 of which passed the tech review and were allowed to participate in the final day’s race. Each of the 19 vehicles was tested for its maneuverability, going through a series of cones in a slalom-like course. The big event was the fuel efficiency in which the vehicles were driven six times around a 1.6 mile track.

Overall the BYU vehicle came in second place but took first prize for fuel efficiency — 1,300 miles per gallon. The BYU vehicle runs at a maximum of 25 miles per hour, stands about 25 inches off the ground at its top, is about nine feet long, about 30 inches wide , weighs 99 pounds, and can accommodate only one driver.

Seven mechanical engineering students designed and built the BYU vehicle, with their adviser, Jerry Bowman. Unconventional and experimental vehicles are key to the future of fuel efficient and alternative fueled vehicles. The BYU vehicle is odiously not made for the mainstream but it is made to push the limits of fuel efficiency in conventional cars.  As it turns out two members of the BYU team who worked on the vehicle have found work at Ford. A good sign.

Source: deseretnews.com